Belly Laugh

For those days that I think my son is unhappy with us as parents, I take a look at this video and begin to believe otherwise! If you don't know my son, you are missing out on a sheer joy in life. And because of that, I share this with you! Enjoy!

Wow, What a Year!!

I can't believe it has already been a year since McKinley Edward Krasnow was born. And what a year it has been! I'm not sure I can put it in words, but what I can say is that McKinley has been a true blessing in my life! His smile warms my heart, his laugh is a ray of sunshine and his personality is incredibly infectious! While pregnant with him, as I didn't know what we were having, I secretly thought I wanted a girl. You know, being a girl, what was I going to do with a baby boy.... Boy, was I wrong! This little guy, outside of my husband, has completely changed my life and is truly the love of my life. (Again, outside of husband!) McKinley will never know how much his mother loves him, although I tell him multiple times a day!

Recent Highlights:

1) He finally started say Mama and he knows who I am!! And, he doesn't just say it when he's mad or tired.

2)  He can sing the "E I " part of Old McDonald but no "O" yet. It's simply "e i e i e i". So sweet!

3) We finally found a sippy cup that works and he loves drinking water out of a Starbucks cup with a straw! Sippy cup is a straw as well. Like mother like son!

4)  He walks with the support of one index finger, but when you let that finger go, he sits down and crawls off.

5) He can tell you that a car goes "vroom", that a dog says "bow wow" and he can show with his index finger that he's one. He's a sheer genius!!

I can't imagine what the next year will bring as this year has been one of complete and utter joy. But, if this next year is anything like the first, my heart will be full and my life complete! I love you my sweet, baby boy! 

My Bad

I told myself that 2012 would bring more to And McKinley Makes Three and well, this is the first post since then! My bad! McKinley has entered his tenth month and so much has happened! I asked him on this ten month birthday what we could expect. I asked, will we see more teeth? Would he learn to walk? Would he ever crawl? Well, he has started cutting two more teeth (four total at the moment), cruises the coffee table at warp speed (nothing on his own) and he finally started the army crawl. I keep telling him he would get places faster if he actually tried crawling on his knees, not slithering the floor on his tummy. Just like any child, he refuses to listen to his mother!

Nine Months

Ten Months

Our first real snow fall came on my mom's birthday and I was so lucky to have the day off to spend with both her and McKinley. We only got a couple of inches, but McKinley was amazed. When I put his little hand in the snow, he gripped it and immediately pulled away looking at me as if I had done something horribly wrong. Priceless indeed! We waited until Daddy got home to put on our snowsuit and if he wasn't the cutest thing I've ever seen! If you don't believe me, just look at him!

First Snow

The following day was his first Valentine's Day and his little onesie says it all! Granddaddy took him to The Guitar Center to pick out his own "guitar" and he loves it! He is a musical child prodigy in the making! Apparently, he entered the store, spotted all the guitars and immediately began to sing. I should probably have professed this by saying he has a music lesson with my dad every morning. My dad plays guitar and they sing. Recently, he started letting McKinley strum hence McKinley's own guitar for Valentine's Day. I love that we might have a musical child in the making. Up next, sports for a very well-roundedness (my own word)!

First Valentine's Day

First "Guitar"

And boy does he love to play!!! We created a little play area for him in our den and he knows it's his little space to sprawl out and make his own! His favorite thing to do is to get all his toys off of the shelves whether he plays with any of them or not! And, he loves pulling himself up on the second shelf and just stand! We call him "standing man"! If he were a super hero, that would be his skill! STANDING! Kid cracks me up!

Finally, he loves water! Little "waterbug" as we call him. He has these squitters that float around in the tub with him, but he favors the swan. They're little animals, a set of 10, that fill up with water and then you squirt the water out of their mouths. We actually have more fun with them than he does! I would post pics of him in the tube, but I don't want to be brought up for child porn! Just trust me, he loves bath time!

Again, I am going to make a concerted effort to blog more about our adventures. So far, 2012 has been amazing! What I can't believe is that I'm starting to think about his first birthday! I have exactly seven weeks from tomorrow! EEKK!!!! We have a theme in mind, and if the day is pretty, we plan to hit the zoo. We love the zoo! Here's hoping....and planning....

A New Year

It's a new year for the Krasnow's, and as I think back over 2011, I can't help being sad to see it end. We have so many amazing things ahead of us this year, but 2011 is year that can never be matched. And for one simple reason really, the birth of our son McKinley Edward. McKinley has brought unbelievable joy to my life, a constant smile to my face and a love to my heart that I have never known. I feel so honored to be his mother and so blessed that he picked me to be his mommy. 

As we enter 2012, McKinley will turn nine months old six days in. I can't believe how the time has flown! He's growing like a weed, learning something new everyday and all the while keeping us constantly entertained. He is an amazing traveler. He barely batted an eye on a five hour rode trip, his first, and took it all in stride when traveling cross country later that summer. He thrives on a changing environment and grows weary when he's been in the same place to long. A little man after my own heart! Joel and I are thinking of vacation destinations for later this year and I believe one or two may involve flight. I know McKinley will be up for the challenge.

Not wanting to rush things, but we will soon have a mobile baby on our hands. Watch out world! He's currently crawling backwards, but I'm sure the fast forward button is on the horizon. He's also a foodie. So far he's enjoyed homemade apple butter, chocolate cake, lemon bar filling, gravy and biscuits and cheeseburgers. Not too shabby for an eight month palette. I can't wait to see what's on the menu over the next few months. Those taste buds are constantly evolving!

The biggest thing I look forward to in the coming months, those leading up to his first birthday, is the ever growing bond between us. I often ask McKinley if he loves me as much as I love him and he responds by patting me, pulling my hair or touching my face. In my world that means yes and I will take it every time! He may not say "mama" all the time, but those small gestures mean more than words ever could. In 2011, he is the best thing I could have ever done!

Foodie

On McKinley's four month well visit he was given the okay to start rice cereal and from there to start solids! We were shocked. We assume cereal would be approved, but we thought we would have to wait until six months before we could start veggies. Doctor's words, "this boy looks like he's ready for solids." And she was right!

We had our first rice cereal test tasting on the evening of August 15th and it went as well as one would expect. He didn't quite understand the spoon and instead of allowing the cereal to slide off into his mouth, he blew against it causing cereal to spray all over him, me and the highchair. It was awesome! Of course you have no idea what goes through their little heads, but we seem to think that he thought it seemed a lot like his formula and would rather have that in a bottle form. We quickly learned to make the cereal a little chunkier so there was texture on the spoon. Hindsight, we probably should have waited a day or two after the four month shots. He wasn't feeling well to begin so that probably didn't help matters.

Well, the cereal didn't sit well over the next couple of days because this poor little guy became constipated! After four days without a bowel movement, we called our doctor to see if there was an in house remedy we could use. The remedy is one tablespoon of Karo syrup per bottle until a movement is made! Well, it didn't long for that to take place. We've actually had to use that remedy several times as this poor little guy apparently inherited his mother's lazy bowels!

After about a week of "eating" cereal we introduced veggies. On August 29th, we started with sweet potatoes and we had major success. He loved them! From my understanding, most babies love sweet potatoes because it's right there in the name, sweet! We continued with all the orange veggies before moving to green with green beans winning out over peas.

 

From there we moved to fruits and he liked some better than others. Pears went over well, but bananas caused gaging. And who would have thunk it, but prunes were his favorite. I so wish we had a photo of his first time with prunes, but alas that was never captured. I can tell you he opened that mouth wide and lapped them up! If only that would produce more frequent bowel movements!!!

As we've journeyed through veggies and fruit, we recently moved to meat. I couldn't bring myself to feed him the chicken with chicken gravy and turkey with turkey gravy provided by Gerber. They were both pale gray in color and the last time I looked, chicken and turkey aren't pale gray when cooked! We love the meat selections provided by Earth's Best Organic baby food. They actually have color and smell like what we're serving. McKinley loves the Vegetable Turkey Dinner and Beef, Carrots and Corn. As we continue to explore the dinner selections, we love watching him figure out what's on the tip of his tongue. We can't wait to actually feed him from our plate! With Thanksgiving fastly approaching, we have big plans to serve up some mashed potatoes, green beans and turkey. We will definitely capture the holiday on film. These firsts are just so amazing and we're thankful that we can re-live them for years to come!

From our table to yours...





A Day at the Zoo

This past weekend was glorious with temperature's ranging in the mid to upper 70s. Because of that, we decided to take advantage of the pretty weather and spend Saturday at the Kansas City Zoo. We weren't the only ones with the same idea! Upon arrival, it took over 20 minutes in the ticket line, but McKinley didn't seem to notice. He was sound asleep! Once inside, I had to get him something to commemorate his first time at the zoo, so we picked out the perfect hat. Worked out well too as I forgot to pack one. Bottles, check! Formula, check! Diapers, check! Sunscreen, check! Hat, nope! Now, he has a darling baseball hat that will fit for the next year at least.

With McKinley now awake, our first stop was to see Nikita, our amazing and adorable polar bear.  He is the main attraction at the zoo and it's no wonder. He is simply amazing! So graceful to watch, you are literally mesmerized by him and could spend all of your time just watching. Last time there, we spent at least 20 minutes watching him swim and play. This time we didn't spend as much time because of how crowded the passage was. We did stop by on our way out and this time I took McKinley down to actually see Nikita in action. I know he had to see him because as soon as McKinley saw this impressive bear, his face lit up and had a huge smile. That's just the reaction young and old get when seeing this marvelous bear!

We started our visit in Africa and with Joel's favorite animal, the elephant. At times, because he's so small, you can't really tell if McKinley's looking at the same thing you are, but I'm pretty sure he saw these mammoth animals. How could you not? The one in the photo, directly behind Joel's shoulder, was so funny. At one point he stood there with one back leg crossed behind the other, like any human would do, and continued to feed on hay. As large as these animals are, I love to watch them roam the path. Again, a graceful animal that sways back and forth as it walks, much like a model walking a runway. I often wonder what any animal is thinking while staring back at you.

Next up, baboons! I remember the last time Joel and I were at the zoo there was a new addition to the baboon family! This sweet baby had just been born, and just like any baby, it is amazing how much it had grown. I loved watching them. They too are very much like humans, I guess that makes sense since we evolved from them, in that they took care of one another. As the baby hung out, the mother I assume, started cleaning another baboon. Was it the father, another sibling, just one of the family? Who can truly be sure.



We left the baboons and continued our way through Africa, and as we do, McKinley nods off for his mid afternoon nap. Joel and I continue to enjoy ourselves. We talk, laugh, continue to photograph the animals and take advantage of some time alone, even with McKinley snoozing directly in front of us.

As we enter the lions den, guess who wakes ups! Perfect timing too. Most of the lions are a sleep and enjoying the little bit of shade right in front of the window! Perfect view! Oh, and it's also the perfect time for a little nosh!



                                                      

  

We didn't get to the Sea Lion show in time to get a seat, but that was okay. We got some great pre-show pics and then made our way to the Carousel Cafe for lunch.

As Joel went to get our lunch, McKinley FINALLY finished his! It only took us over two hours to get him to finish his bottle. I think all the excitement threw him off. As a result, he was one happy boy!

The rest of the visit was kind of short. We were pressed for time as we had plans later in the evening for a friends BBQ. We made our way to the Tiger Trail to see the gorgeous tigers and some Orangutans. The female had a baby as well and he was so precious! We couldn't get a great photo due to the crowd, but take my word for it. Darling!

We didn't have time to visit Australia so we promised McKinley we would start there on our next visit. We will also make sure to attend a Sea Lion show and take a ride on the Carousel. I think we need to invest in a membership. We will be spending some quality time at the zoo in the future and it's a wonderful organization to support! If you haven't been to the Kansas City Zoo in a while, or ever, you owe yourself a trip. A great family atmosphere, but as an adult, you feel like a kid again. 

Rolling Along

Well, the day has come where we can no longer leave McKinley unoccupied on our bed, the couch or any other surface that isn't the floor or his crib. That's because he has official begun rolling over! Now, it's only from his back to his front, but that's better than nothing, right? The first time was a couple of Sunday's ago, when my camera was no where near me, so I made up for it by taking photos on the second time I personally witnessed this major accomplishment!

Starting Position

 On His Side

 Ready to Chat

I was beaming with pride at watching my baby boy roll from his back to his side and just hang there ready to chat with me for a while. Then he just rolled again and from there the trouble seems to begin. He gets to his tummy, which he still HATES, and to make matters worse, he can't figure out how to get his left arm out from underneath his chest. He works and squirms and huffs and puffs and eventually gets it but hasn't figured out "Oh yeah, I just need to lift my body up!" He just squirms which in my opinion makes it even harder. Then, after all of that, he is flat on his tummy, red faced and screaming to get up. We always oblige and he's almost always panting from working his little self to death. I know he will eventually get it, but in the mean time, it's fun watching him discover!